


christmas, and the magic it brings

by wildflower (bangtrashsyd)



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Christmas star, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 01:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13156269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangtrashsyd/pseuds/wildflower
Summary: The family doesn't question it when Daniel bring his Jisung to stay during the holidays which eventually turns into a tradition which eventually turns into Daniel's parents wondering when will Daniel give them a future son-in-law.





	christmas, and the magic it brings

**Author's Note:**

> starts midway into developing feelings

From the likes of _Santa Baby, Matchmaker Santa, 12 Dates of Christmas,_ and _A Princess for Christmas,_ the media scene has literally exploded with cheesy, corny Christmas romance. Well, here’s _another_ love story revolving around the holiday season, so tuck up your feet, get a cup of hot chocolate- spiced with cinnamon, of course- and your favourite ginger snaps.

Ready?

Here we go.

**-start-**

“Mum, we’re home!” The house literally quakes with the Daniel’s entrance, followed closely by Jisung. His mother scampers out of the kitchen to yell at him about banging their front door, then brings him into a big hug, shoving his head into her bosom. When Daniel is released, his entire face is red and he’s panting, short of breath.

“Jisung-ie!” His mother shoves him out of the way and embraces his best friend. Jisung gives Daniel a wide eyed look of alarm, and the younger laughs at his misery, rearranging his expression when his mother lets his best friend go. “How have you been? I made Christmas ham, since you said you liked it last year-"

“Hello, mother,” Daniel scowls, scratching the back of his head. “This is your actual son, right here.”

His mother ignores him, putting an arm around the both of them and strides to the kitchen.

“Jisung, you see? I made Christmas ham for the party this weekend,” she says proudly, and Jisung puts a hand to his mouth to cover his smile. “Niel, I made jelly for you.”

“Aw,” he coos immediately, sidling over to her and holding her hand, “you’re the best-"

“Only after dinner, young man,” she scolds, and he slumps dejectedly against the the kitchen cabinets. Jisung reaches out almost subconsciously to pat at the younger’s head. Unbeknownst to them, Daniel’s mother watches the action quietly, vowing to step in to speed up the developing relationship. It’s been three years since Daniel brought Jisung home for Christmas, and in that time they’ve become closer- best friends at least.

“Where’s Dad?” Daniel asks, and Jisung looks up at the Kang matriarch with a curious look on his face.

“Out getting a tree,” she waves a hand, shooing them out when even Jisung begins to poke at the unbaked apple pie she’s resting on the counter. “Go, go. Get settled in.”

“Thanks, Auntie.” Jisung grins, giving her a high five. She slaps at his open palm.

“I told you to call me Mum!” she protests, and Jisung blinks sheepishly before helping Daniel hike up all the luggages to their room.

They’ve packed enough for the entire Christmas break- which technically started yesterday, but the both of them missed their train while waiting for Daniel’s brother, Seongwoo. As it goes, he forgot to tell them that he would be to his boyfriend Minhyun’s place first to pick up some stuff before coming back with him to celebrate Christmas. Jisung yelled his ear off through the phone until he heard a barely audible _click._ Used to his best friend’s brother’s antics, he just called Minhyun to scream at Seongwoo for another hour while Daniel tried to get them tickets on the next train home.

“We’ll be together this time, and hyung will take the other room,” Daniel interrupts his thoughts by shoving a key his is familiar with into his hands. He has a copy of the key to Daniel’s room and to the front door; after three years of Christmas spent over, it hardly made sense for him to ring the doorbell every time he wanted to come into the house. “Like the years before.”

“Thanks, Niel,” he murmurs, tucking the key into the back pocket of his jeans. Daniel looks up at his soft one and grins brightly.

“That’s what friends do, hyung,” he reminds. Jisung gives him a weak smile, thinking about his own family on the other side of the planet. The price of a flight back to America during Christmas season can be counted as daylight robbery; it’s _that_ expensive. Daniel pushes open the door, straddling his coral pink suitcase and rolling in.

It’s been his childhood room for more than two decades, the flowery wallpaper on the ceiling a welcome sight. The ceilings are painted the lightest shade of sky blue, and the fan he has used since he was a baby gleams on the ceiling, the brown wood varnished and polished. His bed has been pushed to one side, the desk still at its usual spot on the other. Daniel flops onto his bed, and Jisung clucks his tongue at him.

“You haven’t even showered yet,” he rebukes, and Daniel rolls over to poke his tongue out at him. There’s a mischievous light in the younger’s eyes, and he backs away. Daniel beams and catches his hand, curling his fingers around his palm and yanking him down to land on the king sized bed. “Stop!” Cold fingers creep up the hem of his sweatshirt, and he shrieks, twisting away. “Kang Daniel, don’t you _dare-”_

“You talk too much, hyung,” Daniel rolls him over and shoves his head into a pillow. Jisung lets out an elegant snort and pinches the skin at his thigh. “Ow!”

With one smooth movement, he flings himself off the bed and crashes into his own suitcase, catching it before it falls over.

“Dick,” he glares venomously at his best friend, but his words have no heat in them. Daniel winks. “Ew, who are you? Jihoon?”

“You love me, hyung,” Daniel purrs, stretching out like a cat.

It is at this moment something strange happens. The two of them lock eyes, and a flush spreads up the back of Jisung’s neck. The look in the younger’s eyes is inquisitive, as if somehow knowing that he has ventured into dangerous territory. Jisung steps forward and leans his head down so his lips are next to Daniel’s ear-

“NO, I DON’T!” he shouts, and Daniel rolls away, clapping at the hurting ear.

 _“HYUNG,”_ he protests, and Jisung rolls his eyes, going to open the cabinets so he can unpack. “You suck.”

Jisung hums in response and fiddles around with the number lock until he gets his code, then lifts open the top of the suitcase so he can get his stuff out.

“Hey, isn’t that Dad?” Daniel asks, peering out of the window. Jisung goes to join him, looking down into the snow covered lawn.

“The tree is _huge,”_ Jisung chokes out in disbelief. “I think he needs help-" Daniel is out of the door before he can even finish his sentence, and he chuckles before grabbing his gloves off the bedside table and running down the stairs. “Niel!”

He makes it through the front door just as Daniel’s father looks up in surprise at the both of them. Daniel reaches around the trunk to harness one of the ropes, hauling the entire thing into the house.

“Daniel,” The patriarch says warmly, embracing his son. Jisung watches fondly at the sudden tears in Daniel’s eyes. He’s missed his father for the longest time ever since they moved into the dorms, and this year is the first where he’s not in the hospital. “Jisung, right?”

“Yes, sir,” He snaps to attention, and Daniel laughs, his eyes a little wet. His father beams and claps him on the shoulder, giving him a warm welcome and enlisting their help to bring the tree into the living room. They park it in one corner, and his mother brings in the boxes of Christmas decorations.

Daniel’s father sits himself down on the couch, right in front of the fire, and warms his hands. He looks on as Daniel and Jisung work together by setting out all the pieces of decoration onto the table, working together in tandem. There’s something natural, organic, about their movement; something that tells him that these two have both celebrated and suffered together. Good, he muses, Daniel is an emotional boy, he needs someone to take care of him. His wife glances over, grinning deceptively. He’ll need to check what happened- if she’s finally decided to let her baby boy get into another relationship, then he’s in for it as well. It’s high time for Daniel to start dating again-

“Mum, what happened to the Christmas star?” Daniel asks, and he looks up sharply at his wife again. Surely she’s not thinking of recreating the way they confirmed their relationship, but she grins again, the smile spreading up to even her ears.

“Didn’t you know?” she glances quickly out of the window. “This town needs a relationship formed every Christmas before we can put the star up. There haven’t been any yet for this year.”

“No way.” Jisung says in disappointment, and Daniel looks crestfallen. Daniel’s father chuckles at his wife's cunningness. “Seongwoo is bringing Minhyun though? They’re a couple.”

“A relationship formed in this town,” the matriarch says firmly, and he sinks his head into his hands to prevent the children from seeing him laugh. When he peeks through his fingers at his lover, she’s staring sternly at him. Swallowing his giggles, he looks up at Daniel and says, “Aye, lad. Are you taking Jisung to the pier tomorrow?”

“We didn’t have plans,” Jisung takes back his words hurriedly when a look of disappointment crosses his best friend’s father’s face, “but now we do!”

“Good!” The man says in delight. “Can you make us some hot chocolate?”

“Sure!” Jisung chirps, and Daniel follows, almost on instinct. The both of them look at each other in surprise. “You, uh, coming?”

“Yes.” Daniel’s mother says sharply, and their son beams widely at his ‘best friend’. Daniel’s father exchanges a look of disgruntlement once the room is quiet.

“They’re really quite daft, aren’t they?” he asks, and she trots over to pat his cheek.

“We were too,” she says mildly. He laughs, uttering, “Must be in the genes, then.”

 

Seongwoo arrives home two days later, huffing and puffing with presents Minhyun picked out for all of them. The older brother’s boyfriend charms the parents immediately. Unfortunately,  his clean and quiet image is shattered instantly on the third day of his visit.

 _“ONG SEONGWOO!”_ The entire household trembles with the force of the holler. Daniel sits upright immediately, with Jisung rolling over to cover his ears.

It’s way too early to be shouting, he thinks. It’s _ten._ Who wakes up at _ten_ during winter break? Very unwillingly, he stumbles his way out of his door to look across the floor. Strangely, there’s nobody except him and a tired Jisung on their floor. He groans and holds onto the railing, hobbling down the staircase.

Seongwoo is on his knees outside the kitchen, head bowed in reflection. The kitchen door is closed, and he senses Jisung’s approach from behind.

“What happened?” The older asks groggily, and he shrugs. He moves forward to kick his older brother out of the way and slips into the warm kitchen. Inside, Minhyun is drinking his cup of coffee, eyes bright and alert.

“Hyung?” he inquires politely. “What happened?”

“Your brother is having a Time Out,” Minhyun says primly, putting the empty cup back onto the kitchen counter. Except that he misses it by a few inches and the plastic mug hits the floor with a _clang._ The both of them tense, look at the mug, then at the door.

No one comes screaming, so he sighs in relief.

“Are my parents-"

“Do you _think_ I’ll yell like that with the parents in the house?” Minhyun asks, taking a long sip. Daniel shrugs. “Seongwoo spilt coffee all over the floor and into the can of dry oats I had open. And he didn’t clean up.”

Daniel blinks and surveys the state of the kitchen. It’s spotless, so-

“You literally screamed a minute before I came in,” he pauses for emphasis (and also to see if Minhyun is getting the drift), “how did you, uh, clean-"

“I like cleaning.” Minhyun says simply, setting the coffee cup into the sink and turning on the faucet. He gapes at him- the only time he washes anything in the kitchen sink… is probably never.

“Can you be my boyfriend instead, Minhyun-ah?” Jisung questions, shoving past him to get into the kitchen. Minhyun grins and talks louder: “Yes, Jisung, I’m single now.”

Outside, Seongwoo makes a grumbling, pitiful noise. Daniel eyes the state of his older brother with despair. His handsome, smart older brother has been… degraded to grovelling on his knees outside a kitchen door.

“Do you want coffee, hyung?” he asks, and Seongwoo raises his head, only for Minhyun to say crisply, “No.”

When his mother returns, she gapes at the broken body of her son and drops an orange on his head in shock.

“You’ve been _tamed,”_ she tells him in amazement. Seongwoo glances up, and rolls his eyes. “Minhyun, I approve of this relationship. Someone needs to control this boy.”

His father comes along laughing, even offering Minhyun a high five on the way out. Jisung looks surprised that they’re not upset, but his family’s always been a little quirky.

 

It’s freezing at the pier, and Jisung has half the mind to push Daniel into the freezing water. He takes it back immediately, of course. If he doesn’t bring Daniel back alive and in one piece, he’ll be kicked out of the house in less than a second, no matter how much he _thinks_ the Parents love him.

“It’s cold,” he shivers. His _voice_ is wavering, and his teeth are chattering like how Tom’s do in _Tom and Jerry._ Daniel passes him another hot pack to slip into his gloves. Can he feel his fingers? He doubts it.

“When hyung and I were younger, my dad brought us here to skate,” Daniel explains, pushing his hair away from his face. Jisung notes how long it’s getting; he should cut it soon. “I thought you’d like to see it. It’s kind of pretty, isn’t it?”

 _Damn Korea and the Siberian winds._ Jisung blinks slowly and _sees._

There’s a layer of ice over the lake. In some spots, the ice is thin and he can see the shadows of fishes swimming beneath. A row of trees- pine, he supposes- loom over the ice, and if he looks off in the distance, the row stretches beyond the roads and into the forest. Each leaf is coated with a dusting of sparkling snow.

“It _is_ pretty,” he admits, kicking one boot behind the other. Daniel smiles and grins.

“I wanted to let you see it,” he says softly. Jisung flushes, and he hides his face in the scarf he brought along. His best friend just laughs and heads back to the car, shouting: “Come on, Jisung-hyung!”

He hangs back a little bit.

If he can force his mind beyond the warning: ‘COLD, GET INTO CAR’, he can see two children laughing and slipping around on the ice. There’s an older man there as well, and Jisung _thinks_ that this man has smile wrinkles around his eyes. One of the boys turn to look at him, beaming, and he identifies the button nose and gummy smile at once.

“Hyung!” Daniel calls, and the illusion is broken. Jisung gives the lake one last glance, then begins to walk through the snow to where his friend is waiting.

 

“Let’s go watch a movie,” Seongwoo leans against their door, looking down at the both of them hidden under the sheets, “and stop sleeping.”

Jisung yanks the blanket away from his face and gives his best friend’s brother a poisonous look.

“I’m a _grad student,”_ he says intensely. “I sleep wherever, and whenever I can.”

Seongwoo shrugs, then shouts for Minhyun. His hot boyfriend appears at the door soon enough.

“They don’t want to go,” Seongwoo complains, and Minhyun hums thoughtfully. Daniel sits up to observe the proceedings before going back to sleep. Jisung goes back to his phone, scrolling through the Reddit article he had been looking through under the sheets.

When he looks up six articles later, Minhyun is still waiting patiently at their door.

“What are you doing?” he asks in suspicion. Minhyun gives him an angelic smile and begins to holler: “TEN-”

Suddenly, Daniel thrashes against the blankets and jumps out of bed, going to the closet to pick out a shirt to put on before stumbling around in confusion. Minhyun, at this point, has collapsed onto the floor and is crying with laughter at the way Daniel’s hair is standing upright. It looks remarkably like a nest. Jisung rolls of the mattress in confusion- if this is some family thing, he better be ready.

“Works like a charm,” Minhyun chokes out, giggling. Daniel puts his hand on his study desk to steady himself.

“Mum,” he begins, then a look of bewilderment crosses his face when he realises the person at the doorway is, in fact, not his mother, “I- What?”

“By order of the matriarch, everyone is going to the movies,” his mother appears, patting Minhyun absently on the head. Seongwoo appears next to her like some devil incarnate, and Jisung mourns the rest of the afternoon he had planned to do nothing. Minhyun holds on to the doorknob to help himself up, but it breaks off in his hand and he lands on his butt.

There’s a pause as Minhyun looks at the doorknob in his hand with alarm, with everyone else staring at him in shock.

Then Daniel’s mother begins to _cackle,_ and everyone promptly loses it.

 

The triple date is horrifying.

Daniel’s parents are holding hands and smiling cheesily at each other on his left. His older brother is feeding Minhyun french fries while Minhyun takes Snapchat videos of him on his right.

Okay, so Jisung is passed out on the table, face dangerously close to a saucer of chill sauce, and Daniel has most definitely _not_ been staring at him for the past ten minutes. Minhyun puts the phone down, and Seongwoo stops feeding him immediately, instead cramming the remainder of the entire packet into his mouth. His boyfriend pays him no mind, and stares at Daniel.

“What?” he asks, brushing the back of his hand over his mouth. The hand comes away clean, so there shouldn’t be anything on his mouth.

“You like him,” Minhyun reports, taking a long swig of his iced lemon tea. Daniel blinks; he seems to understand those words, but separately.

“What?” he asks again, and Seongwoo is looking now. He slaps his brother’s face away because he’s getting into his personal space.

“You-” Minhyun points, and Daniel’s eyes become crossed from trying to focus on it. “-like Jisung.”

“I like Jisung?” he repeats, and the older kicks out in his sleep. He looks at him in alarm, and his parents take a break from staring into each other’s eyes to glance over. “You think I like Jisung?”

“Yes.” Minhyun smiles beautifully, then goes back to tapping on his phone. “You know I’m right, Niel.”

“I’m not in love with Jisung,” he clarifies, and his mother chuckles.

“Honey,” she begins, patting his hand, “he didn’t say anything about love.”

Daniel looks at Jisung. The older is asleep, and yet Daniel thinks he looks innocent and young. He remembers the way Jisung acts when he’s asleep- very soon he will start mumbling softly.

Minhyun kicks his leg under the table, and he jumps.

“Remember, I’m the smart one here,” The older advises, then reaches over to ruffle his hair. “I know when I’m right.”

He frowns, and his father bumps his shoulder with his own in some attempt to be ‘bros’.

“Describe Jisung in one word,” he prompts, and Daniel sighs.

“Really, dad?” he groans. “Don’t you have enough patients to work with already?”

His father wriggles his eyebrows at him, and turns the question to Minhyun. The response is lost to him because he has simply no interest in what Minhyun thinks of his brother. Instead, he takes the time to look at Jisung- _really_ look. He sees his old friend- his first Orientation camp buddy who was bubbly and talkative, the one who answered all his uncertain questions about college with ease, then promptly begin to scream at one of the Orientation camp leaders for not ordering enough food. After Orientation, what happened?  
They exchanged numbers, and for a while it was just a senior-junior relationship until he received a phone call from the elder with a panicked: “Can you pretend to be my boyfriend for three hours?”

Turns out it was for a wedding expo- _with free cake, Daniel-_ and they pretended to be boyfriends while tasting some of the best cakes he had ever eaten. And then Jisung saw his old boyfriend Jaehan. Daniel’s automatic response was to put an arm around his shoulders and say loudly: “Only the best for you, honey.” With that line, Jisung had grinned and pecked him on the cheek, then later, once they were out of the venue, thanked him profusely and swore to be his best friend.

At this point, the narrator would like to remind all readers that they had only known each other for about three months before Jisung asked Daniel to be his fake-boyfriend. There _has_ to be some feelings then already, but that’s a story for another day. Back to the scene in McDonalds-

“Mine,” Daniel murmurs, and all conversation halts at the table. He’s still staring at Jisung, at the way the older has his cheek pressed against his hand. Daniel’s mother looks across the table at her husband and grins. Seongwoo wrinkles his nose, and Minhyun chuckles in wonder.

“And I thought Jisung would figure that out first,” Seongwoo muses, and Daniel looks over in shock. “Don’t be stupid, you think we _haven’t_ seen all those looks the both of you send to each other when the other is not looking?”

“Jisung looks at me when I’m not looking?” he asks faintly. Seongwoo sighs and nods, and he feels his soul slipping away from his body.

Let’s look over to Jisung- from Daniel’s perspective, the man has been asleep for the entire conversation. Unfortunately, he hasn’t, not really.

There’s this thing called NREM I, or non-rapid eye movement sleep phase 1. What this means, is that for the first five to ten minutes of someone sleeping, they can still be aware of their surroundings- especially sounds and smells. The time duration of this phase can be extended in the elderly, and also lasts longer if the sleeping environment is uncomfortable and sometimes when napping during daytime. Jisung is trying to sleep while sitting on a metal chair and has his neck bent forward while having his face pressed against his hand. This, as any student knows, is not comfortable.

So yes, Jisung can hear what the table is discussing.

 

Daniel brings Jisung to one of the gatherings his old friends have planned on the eve of Christmas Eve, and Jisung hates himself for hating it.

Once they arrive at the bowling centre, everyone rises on their feet and welcomes them with bright smiles and drinks. Daniel seems to light up at the sight of all his old friends gathered in one place, and promptly dissolves into the crowd of people. Jisung is left by himself, surrounded by a wave of well meaning people he doesn’t know.

“Hello!” Someone touches his elbow, and he turns to see a cute youngster with a black cap handing him another drink. He’s barely touched the one he was handed with when he first arrived, but he doesn’t protest when the unknown person replaces the cup in his hand with a mug of hot chocolate. “My name is Guanlin!”  
“Hello Guanlin,” he smiles, and hopes his face conveys the emotion he is trying to express and not the awkwardness he feels- “my name is Jisung.”

“Oh, we know _that,”_ Someone appears by Guanlin’s side, and Jisung swallows. This person has thick eyebrows and huge shoulders, as well as a resting angry face. “Daniel talks about you in his calls back all the time. I’m Baekho.”

“Uh, nice to meet you,” he stutters out, and a surprisingly cute smile spreads across Baekho’s face. He looks on in wonder as the man turns from Angry White Tiger into Cute Baby White Tiger in seconds.

“Let me introduce you to everyone, hyung!” Guanlin grins, then shouts for someone named Minki. A blonde, slight and thin man appears within seconds, holding what looks like a margarita in his hand. He’s dressed from head to toe in designer clothing, and sports a killer cat eye. He blinks.

“Hello, Jisung!” Minki loops their elbows together and tugs him through the people.

“If you know Minki-hyung, you know everyone,” Guanlin says helpfully, and Jisung tries to avoid getting whiplash as Minki tugs him to stand on top of a table.

“Introduce yourself to Jisung, everyone!” he hollers, and he smiles as brightly as he can. A series of names are thrown at him and he fumbles with them in his head. “Hey, how about we go ice skating?”

Daniel pops out from somewhere- _finally,_ Jisung thinks- and beams.

“I want to go ice skating!” he chirps, and Minki begins to take down the names of the people who are coming along. Someone named Jonghyun gathers up all the drivers and begins to organise people into cars. The entire process is done within five minutes, which is amazing. Jonghyun turns to him with a gentle smile- _Jesus,_ are his eyes sparkling?- and asks if he can drive, nodding calmly when he admits that he’s bad at it.

“We’ll put you with Baekho, then,” he pats his shoulder, then begins to usher everyone out. Minki places four 10,000 won notes on the counter before they leave, and the person opposite smiles and waves goodbye to them as if this is a regular weekend ritual.

“This ice-” he begins, and Guanlin is next to him again. He has the sneaking suspicion that someone paired him to be a sort of orientation buddy.

“If you don’t want to go, we can drop you off at Niel-hyung’s house, hyung,” The teenager smiles. Daniel is waiting for him next to his car, and he pauses.

“You’re coming, right, hyung?” Daniel asks. Jisung hasn’t seen him this happy in a while.

“I’m, uh, going with Baekho,” he reports. There’s a barely perceptible change in Daniel’s open expression, almost like disappointment, but not quite. He narrows his eyes and steps forward-

“Jisung-ssi!” Baekho calls from a SUV in the parking lot opposite. “Come on!”

“Bye,” He offers lamely to his friend, then jogs over to slip into Baekho’s backseat. When he looks up, Daniel is still standing in the very same spot he left him, except the look in his eyes in unreadable. After a moment, the younger goes back into his car.

Once he settles in, he realises that Guanlin, Baekho, Jonghyun, Minki and someone else- Gunhee? The one with the big mouth. They are all in the car, and Baekho starts the engine silently.

“Daniel loves you,” Minki says first. Jisung tenses in his seat, half turned around to object- Gunhee sits forward and advices, “Don’t.”

“This isn’t a hazing ritual,” Guanlin smiles and reaches forward to pat his shoulder.

“Jonghyun-hyung is too nice for that,” Gunhee mulls over the idea, propping his hand up on the arm rest and leaning his chin into it.

He blinks at the man tucked in the back seat, still on his phone. At the mention of his name, he looks up and waves with two fingers.

“We’re here to move the relationship along,” Baekho booms from the driver’s seat. “First time’s Daniel brought someone to see us. You must be special.”

Jisung tenses.

“He’s brought me home for Christmas the past four years,” He protests, and Jonghyun chuckles darkly.

“Oh, we know,” he turns his phone off and tosses it onto the empty seat next to him. Now that he thinks of it, the car is surprisingly empty. Jonghyun smiles, gently now. “You’re a good person, Jisung-ssi.”

He shifts uncomfortably in his seat, weirded out by this information. Jisung feels like he’s passed a selection test he didn’t even sign up for.

 _Describe Jisung in one word._ Daniel’s dad’s words ring through his head. He flinches and clenches one fist, hearing his friend’s response, _“Mine.”_

“We’re here.” Baekho announces, and Jisung clambers out of the car, slipping on the ice. A hand catches his elbow, and he looks up. It’s Daniel, eyebrows drawn together in a frown.

“You okay, hyung?” He asks, and Jisung flushes again, murmuring an affirmative before turning to help Gunhee down.

Minki leads the way to the pier again, and Jisung begins to shiver. Daniel looks over in worry and hands him a scarf to wrap around his neck.

It’s not as cold as the other day, but uncomfortably cold enough. He wraps the scarf around his neck and follows as they head to the wooden shed in the front. Minki pays (again) for the rental of the skates, handing them out by size- for some reason, he has everyone’s shoe size computed in his head- and passes Jisung one that is exactly his size. He blinks in confusion and takes it with numb fingers, nearly dropping the pair on his feet. Daniel holds his elbow gingerly as he leads the both of them to a bench cleared of snow to put the boots on. Jisung shoves his feet into the skates, then stares at the laces with confusion until his friend laughs and leans over his feet to help him tie them together.

“I feel like an idiot now,” he grumbles, as Daniel ties the laces with expert fingers.

“You’re not an idiot, you just didn’t grow up like me,” his friend pats his feet twice, then stands with no trouble at all. Jisung stares at his back, as if lost in thought, then makes a valiant attempt to stand.

Daniel turns at the sound of something hitting the floor, shuffling over and giggling.

 

“You have to take off your jacket,” Daniel is coaxing. Jisung grits his teeth and shakes his head, gripping onto the jacket with both hands. “You’ll warm up really quickly!”

“I am _not_ discussing this,” his teeth are _chattering,_ “so hurry up and help me onto the ice.”

Daniel lets out a long suffering sigh and opens his hand, letting him take it so he can lead the both of them to where everyone else is playing. Jisung steps onto the ice gingerly- he’s skated before, but not somewhere as cold as _this._ Someone glides up to them, who’s he again?

“Hyung,” The lanky, tall guy begins, then slips dramatically and falls on his ass on the ice. Daniel sighs and helps him up. “Is this Jisung-ssi?”  
“Yes,” he replies, helping to dust off the snow from the guy’s hair. The guy bends his head down obligingly. “And you are?”

“Kwon Hyunbin!” he chirps, then takes his elbow. “Niel-hyung, Minki-hyung is calling for you.”

Daniel sighs and hands him over, letting Hyunbin support his weight. “Okay,” he grumbles, then moves off in the direction of a blonde head. Hyunbin takes his hand and urges him into sliding a little more smoothly.

“Is this safe?” he asks, and the younger grins, promising, “It’s as safe as it can be, Jisung-ssi.”

“You can call me hyung,” Jisung says quickly, observing the adorable way this guy’s eyes crinkle as he laughs. Hyunbin leads him over to the middle of the ice and passes him off to Baekho, whose hands are surprisingly gentle as he takes him on another round around the ice.

“Did you know that Daniel used to go out with Jonghyun, there?” Baekho points with the hand not touching his elbow. Jisung blinks. “It was pretty long ago, ended badly.”

“What happened?” he asks, uncertain. Baekho shrugs and says, “They fell out of love and carried the relationship for a month? Anyway, Jonghyun hasn’t dated since then, and we were worried about Daniel as well. I’m glad he has you.”

Jisung is very well stunned into silence, blinking and nearly slipping on the ice. Baekho catches him and steadies him, passing him on to Jonghyun before skating off to do loops with Daniel.

“You dated Niel?” Jisung blurts out, then smacks himself internally. Jonghyun doesn't look surprised- he just nods. “Do you still love him?”

Jonghyun furrows his eyebrows. He notes distantly that Jisung’s skating fine by himself, which is a small accomplishment. “As a brother,” he clarifies, watching Jisung’s shoulders relax. “I like someone else now.”

“Ooh, who?” he asks immediately, seeing Jonghyun tense and a look of shock crossing his face. “Sorry, you don’t have to-"

“Minki,” Jonghyun points across the pond. “It’s been a while.” Jonghyun shrugs and continues sliding and slipping on the glass.

“JISUNG HYUNG!” Someone calls, and he turns carefully. Daniel is waving energetically to him from the middle of the ice, shouting, “Watch this!”

Jisung skates a bit closer, Jonghyun by his side. Daniel grins once he’s closer and begins to spin.

“He shouldn’t-" Jonghyun begins, and Jisung watches in horror as Daniel’s ankle twists. The man slips, looking surprised, and falls through the ice. “Oh, _shit! DONGHO!”_

Jisung shrieks and starts to stampede forwards, but Jonghyun grabs his wrist in a strong grip and hauls him to the banks.

“CLEAR OFF THE ICE!” he hollers to the people still skating, and from a distance, Jisung spots Baekho tying a piece of rope around him and walking carefully to the hole, then lying down on his stomach. Baekho reaches his hand into the water, as if finding something to grab on to.

“Oh, God,” he says faintly, and Guanlin helps him take off his skates and into the boots. Baekho heaves, and Daniel’s head breaks through the waters. The boys begin to pull on the rope, and Baekho slides across the ice, with Daniel on top of him. Once Daniel reaches the banks- his eyes are closed- Baekho starts to roll him in the snow, then starts to strip him to his thermal wear. “Let’s get them home,” he hears Minki say, and the keys to the car are plucked from Daniel’s coat. He’s hustled into the car, and Jonghyun slides into the driver’s seat to turn on the ignition. Baekho heaves Daniel’s body into the back and slams the door shut behind him, and Jonghyun slams his foot down on the pedal.

 

“I have a question,” he breaks the silence first among the four of them in the room. “What was Daniel’s response when his father asked to describe me with one word?”

Daniel’s chest rises and falls with every breath, lips slightly parted to inhale and exhale. He focuses in on that motion, although he can _sense_ Seongwoo and Minhyun exchanging a long glance.

“He said,” Seongwoo puts a hand on his shoulder, as if to steady him, “‘Mine’.”

 

When Daniel opens his eyes, Jisung is seated in his old desk chair, legs folded and head placed at a weird angle.

“Hyung,” he rasps. There is no response from the older. “Hyung?” He reaches out with two fingers to tap the exposed area of his ankles. Jisung opens his eyes and jumps.

“Daniel!” he gasps, and he blinks sleepily. “Hyung,” he replies tiredly. Jisung collapses a little bit against the chair, as if waking from a dream. “I’m thirsty.”

Jisung gets up and walks over to the water jug placed on the desk, pouring water into a cup and handing it over with a sigh.

“What were you thinking-" he begins, then sits down hard in the chair. Daniel sips from the cup, hand shaking, and Jisung takes away the empty cup once he’s done. “I’m glad you woke up.”

“Me too,” he groans out. “I think I blacked out because of the cold.”

“Idiot,” Jisung murmurs, fingers curling to wrap around his wrist. “I was worried.”

Now, something happens again, but it looks like they’re going to follow it through this time. Daniel lowers his eyelids as Jisung bends to press his lips gently against his forehead. Then, with an unexpected surge of energy, he manages to loop his arms around Jisung’s neck and lets gravity do its work.

Jisung’s face crashes into his, and he knocks their noses together.

“Ow,” Jisung complains against his cheek, hands coming to brace himself against the pillow. “You’re bad at this.”

“Mmpf,” Daniel harrumps back, then noses himself to kiss Jisung properly on the lips.

 

Daniel’s mother puts the Christmas star on the Christmas tree, grinning secretively to herself. Her husband helps her down, wrapping a strong arm around her waist and leading her to the couch.

“You sure they kissed?” he asks, as if to confirm, and she scowls at him.

“I have great eyesight,” she insists, and he chuckles, pecking her cheek and leaning back into the soft cushions. His wife reaches for her beer and leans into his embrace.

They’re watching a movie- he’s not sure of the title- but it’s cheesy and she likes it, so he keeps his mouth shut and tries not to fall asleep. Happy wife, happy life.

“It’s 12am,” she notes in surprise, and he makes a muffled sound of acknowledgement. “Merry Christmas, dear.”

“Merry Christmas,” he echoes fondly, then pecks her on the cheek again. She grins, sets her beer down, then kisses him on the lips. "Hey, do you think we'll get sons-in-laws soon?"

**-fin-**

**Author's Note:**

> wow ao3 was _not_ working with me when i tried to post this lol i had to do this like six times... i had cute christmas tree emojis between the scenes but it seems like they don't allow it so ,,,, this is one of my first works into the nielsung shipdom so pls forgive me if i got the dynamics a lil wonky... and comment below!! it really motivates me haha
> 
> a couple of standard announcements...  
> 1\. i'll be holding a justice league (pd101) fic fest soon! \o/ it's for the anniversary, and the interest form is [here!](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdnny9nM63ABB2ekK5_8eggm8pOrZSY4NngYZwVaLhI1zPhWw/viewform) pls help to spread the work by retweeting [this tweet](https://twitter.com/wildflower_kjh/status/945580288800780288) as well!!  
> 2\. i'm holding a fic giveaway on my [twitter page!](https://twitter.com/wildflower_kjh) here's the [link!](https://twitter.com/wildflower_kjh/status/941998441336410113)  
> 3\. i've been nominated for a couple of catergories in the [Wanna One Fanfiction Awards.](https://wannaonefanfictionawards.tumblr.com/) please spare me a vote at the voting form [here](http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2Fforms%2Fd%2Fe%2F1FAIpQLSd1EfuIYkdiCndvDAtWlf9vDYNS38Aj79Cmc_1NYxEYxdAZqQ%2Fviewform%3Fusp%3Dsf_link&t=MDIwMmIwNzNjNWNlZDBmZTJmNDBmODNjN2QyNTJkMWVlNjBhZmI2Nix2amFpam5UUw%3D%3D&b=t%3AvW8hPXfVm8Vn0Ckywj24Ug&p=https%3A%2F%2Fwannaonefanfictionawards.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F168389418080%2Fvoting-is-live&m=1)
> 
> merry christmas to you and yours!!


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